Computer products and other networking equipment have emerged as one of the largest and fastest growing industries. With the rapid improvements made within the industry, electronic manufacturers continuously strive to satisfy the on-going demand for products providing functionality without restrictions such as, for example, size, power consumption, compatibility, ergonomics, software capability, lifetime, range, productivity, usable-interface, security, speed, portability, etc.
One restriction the electronic industries have vastly improved upon is providing a range or degree of freedom associated with employment of wireless networks and/or devices. Wireless networks and/or devices such as, but not limited to, wireless local area networks (WLAN), BLUETOOTH®, sub-networks (e.g., wireless mouse and personal computer), portable digital assistants (PDA's), mice, keyboards, speakers, monitors, routers, phones, cellular communication devices, wireless devices, access points, . . . facilitate functionality with mitigation of wires and accompanied restrictions. In addition to providing degree(s) of freedom, wireless devices and/or networks are advantageous to hard-wired networks and/or devices for numerous reasons. Wireless systems are pleasing to the eye since the clutter of unwanted hard-wires is eliminated. For instance, plasma flat-screen televisions involve mounting on a wall similar to that of a painting mounted to a wall. By utilizing a wireless method and/or system, the wires for the television would not be seen hanging from the wall, and the result is a more pleasant looking, wall-mounted television. Furthermore, a hard-wire is a physical restriction by limiting the range of the device and/or network with the actual length of the wire. For example, a hard-wired Ethernet connection for a laptop can only be utilized within physical constraints of length of the Ethernet cable. Additionally, hard-wires have to be connected, which can involve matching an endless amount of plugs and connectors.
Not only are wireless networks and/or devices employed within the personal computer realm (e.g., wireless keyboards, mice, speakers, . . . ), but common households are increasing use of wireless home networks and/or devices. For example, broad-band connections are becoming more affordable for home users in which multiple personal computers anticipate connectivity. Dependant upon location of the personal computers, a network can be employed in order to distribute and utilize the broad-band connection. However, common problems of using hard-wires for the network can arise (e.g., cost, degree of freedom, eye-pleasing, . . . ). Thus, wireless networks and/or devices can be utilized in order to cure the foregoing problems.
Although benefits are apparent for wireless networks and/or devices, many problems arise involving installation of such products. With the increasing number of wireless networks, a difficulty arises to provide security to a wireless device with a particular network entity (e.g., wireless mouse with a personal computer, wireless speakers with a receiver, wireless access point with a router, wireless device with an access point, . . . ). Additionally, the network can be susceptible to harmful attacks from, for instance, a hacker. Such wireless network security can be seen as a negative in comparison to the benefits associated therewith.
Another complex problem involving wireless networks and/or devices involves security and authentication. Although wireless networks and/or devices provide a vast amount of benefits, a hard-wire network and/or device is typically more secure based at least upon the physical connection assumed to be authenticated. On the contrary, wireless networks and/or devices are prone to “sniffing” (e.g., the act of eavesdropping on messages such as, but not limited to, confidential business data or passwords in transit), rogue access points, and other hack techniques (e.g., port scanning, transfer communication protocol (TCP) spoofing, user datagram protocol (UDP) spoofing, TCP session spoofing, . . . ) which are utilized in order to intrude and exploit the wireless network security.